This invention relates to an apparatus for receiving or transferring, vertically transporting and delivering articles such as eggs, which apparatus comprises a feed conveyor for presenting successive articles in oriented position, an endless, continuously movable, substantially vertically arranged carrier conveyor for receiving the articles successively presented by the feed conveyor, this carrier conveyor being equipped with a series of means for retaining and supporting an article during the vertical transport.
Such an apparatus is disclosed in U.S. patent specification No. 3,342,012. This prior art apparatus comprises a rotatable mill located above the discharge end of a substantially horizontally arranged feed conveyor. This mill, in cooperation with a fixedly mounted guide plate, can transfer the successively supplied eggs to a carrier conveyor arranged in line therewith, which is equipped with a series of egg-receiving elements. Each egg-receiving element consists of two pivotally interconnected fork-shaped parts which can be moved relative to each other at the point of transfer, in such a manner that an article can be received between these parts, and the egg-receiving elements close upon further displacement along the transport track for further transporting the article in an oriented position. At a downstream point of the path traversed by the carrier conveyor, an opposite motion of the receiving elements takes place, so that the articles are discharged. This prior art apparatus exhibits the drawback that the two-part receiving elements, after an egg has been received between these parts, must be closed and subsequently opened at the point of discharge. The control of the egg-receiving element in the opening and closing direction constitutes an important limitation of the operating speed of the apparatus.
The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus of the above-described type, in which this drawback has been obviated.